U.S. stock futures were higher on Wednesday morning after the S&P 500 notched its third straight day of losses. Futures tied to the S&P 500 climbed 0.3%, while Nasdaq-100 futures gained 0.1%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures advanced 47 points, or 0.1%. United Airlines climbed more than 6% after posting a narrower-than-expected loss and beating on revenue. J.B. Hunt Transport Services fell more than 7% after missing analysts’ expectations on the top and bottom lines. Those moves come after the Dow was able to break a six-day losing streak on Tuesday, lifted by UnitedHealth’s post-earnings rally. But Tuesday marked the third straight day of declines for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. The moves come after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that the Federal Reserve needs to see more progress on the inflation front before the U.S. central bank is likely to begin cutting rates. The comments did little to assuage the market’s pessimism, said Ross Mayfield, an investment strategy analyst with Baird. Mayfield sees equities trading mostly range-bound in the near term, with an exception being if any geopolitical event spikes oil prices even higher. “The primary headwind is the hawkish repricing of Fed expectations. I don’t think Fed Chair Powell did much to ease those concerns today, perhaps intentionally,” he told CNBC. “The market is getting to a place where it’s questioning whether there will be a rate cut at all in 2024.” U.S. Treasury yields held steady on Wednesday as investors digested comments from Federal Reserve policymakers about the state of the economy and monetary policy outlook. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose less than 1 basis point to 4.659%. The 2-year Treasury was last at 4.968% after advancing by less than 1 basis point — trading just below the 5% mark it briefly crossed on Tuesday. Asia-Pacific markets were mixed after Tuesday’s broad sell-off, with traders watching trade data out of Japan and Singapore on Wednesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 1.32% to end at 37,961.8, below the 38,000 mark for the first time since February, while the broad-based Topix saw a smaller loss of 1.26% and closed at 2,663.15. The Reuters Tankan index showed that business optimism dipped in Japan for April. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was 0.1% lower, but the CSI 300 on mainland China bucked the trend and gained 1.55%, closing at 3,565.4. South Korea’s Kospi also extended losses, falling 0.98% to 2,584.18 after leading losses in Asia on Tuesday, but the small cap Kosdaq was marginally up and ended at 833.03. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 ended marginally down, finishing at 7,605.6. U.S. crude oil fell for the third consecutive trading session on Wednesday, dipping below $85 a barrel as the market dismissed the risk of a wider war between Israel and Iran that could disrupt supplies. The West Texas Intermediate contract for May delivery fell 46 cents, or 0.55%, to $84.89 a barrel. June Brent futures were down 51 cents, or 0.57%, at $89.51 a barrel. U.S. oil and the global benchmark are down just under 1% this week. Gold prices rose on Wednesday, to near record-high levels as risks of the Middle East conflict spreading to other regions brought safe-haven flows into bullion, alongside short-term support from falling U.S. dollar and Treasury yields. Spot gold rose 0.3% to $2,389.38 per ounce, not far off the all-time high of $2,431.29 it hit on Friday. U.S. gold futures fell 0.1% to $2,405.10.